Ahh me and my slow posting. I apologise that I take so long. I always get caught up in reading fanfiction and seem to forget that I have a story I need to write out. So this one was left to the side lines a little. Oh well, the chapter's here now.

More notes at the end of the chapter.

Disclaimer: Teen wolf and its characters are not owned by me. I will not take credit for it.

When Stiles agreed to help care for the pups, he should've known that it basically meant that he cared for them while Derek spent most of the time either out of the house, muttering to himself or pacing.

Thankfully, Isaac and Scott were more than happy to help him whenever they were over at the house so he didn't mind too much that Derek didn't pitch in. It wasn't exactly like Derek knew what he was doing anyway.

That is, until Stiles had a bit of news that would force him to get his ass into gear.

"Hey Derek, can we talk for a minute?"

Derek glanced up from the newest bit of information Scott had given him, raising an eyebrow at the boy as Stiles stood there expectantly. He stood up, straightening his back and crossing his arms over his chest.

"What? Something wrong with one of the pups?" Derek asked calmly.

"Nothing wrong as such…but it does concern them." He answered, rubbing his arm slightly before sighing a little. "I can't come care for the pups for at least a week."

"What? Why not?"

"You remember the incident with Jackson right? The one where I hit him with my jeep."

"Yeah…"

"Well…Dad finally found the bump on the jeep aaaaaand after I may have mentioned that I hit something with it on purpose…I got grounded." He said sheepishly.

Derek raised his eyebrow again and glanced at the jeep out the front.

"You know, you could've just asked one of us to remove the dent. And why did you tell him you hit something on purpose? Wasn't that a little stupid?"

"What was I supposed to say? 'Hey dad, don't mind the dent on my jeep, I rammed into a freaky lizard, that may or may not have been Jackson, who jumped on it and turned into a freaking werewolf after he was killed by Derek and Peter." Stiles gave him a pointed look before sighing. "I suppose I could've gotten one of you to remove it. But it's too late now."

"How'd you even get here without being seen?"

"I'm Stiles remember! I'm just that awesome. Besides, I couldn't just suddenly not appear. But I kinda need a week away from the little guys anyway. Not that I'm not having fun with them, but I do still go to school."

Derek sighed before glancing into the other room where he can hear the soft breathing of the pups, telling him that they were still asleep despite the fact that Stiles was here.

"So who's going to be caring for them while you're gone? I know you've had Scott and Isaac helping you, but they're not here all the time like you are." He pointed out when he turns back to look at Stiles.

"Yeaaaaaah. About that."

If the tone in Stiles' voice hadn't given him enough of a hint, the sheepish grin on his face did.

"Oh no! I am not caring for them myself. That was the whole reason you were here in the first place."

Stiles sighs and moves closer.

"Oh come on! It's only for a week. And besides, you agreed to keep them here. It's about time you pulled your weight and cared for them."

"Did you forget the fact that I'm the alpha of a pack that currently has an alpha pack in our territory?"

"And I promised I'd help. I've been getting what I can and trying to figure out how to work with the pack problem. I can't do much about the alpha pack, but I can sure as hell try do something about our own pack. Just…take this week to do something else, alright? You don't need to help afterwards."

Derek sighs again but doesn't argue further, so Stiles takes it as a win. He grins and moves towards the other room.

"Well come on then. We've got a few things to teach you if we want to get you ready for caring for them on your own or with Scott and Isaac."

He pauses then continues once Derek abandons the information about the alpha pack to follow him. It was going to be a long week.

…..:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..…

Stiles spent the rest of the day going over everything with Derek, making him do what was needed while he stayed and watched. They were both sitting on the couch, watching the pups as they wrestled and played around together.

"I…how are you going with finding out about the pack?"

Stiles turned his gaze to Derek as he asked the question before turning away again.

"Its…not the best. I don't really have any leads and it's harder to find trails when I don't know where they left from. I've had Scott sniffing around a bit, but so far he hasn't found anything." He admitted gravely.

It wasn't the news he wanted to give Derek, but it was the truth. While he could get away with a few lies around the pack, he hadn't exactly managed the ability to lie to them all the time.

"I figured as much. " Derek muttered, not removing his gaze from the pups.

"I'm working on it dude. Just, gimme a little time! I said I'd find out about them and I will. I just, it's hard and the pups are pretty distracting." At that comment, Stiles picks up one of the pups that has wandered over and holds it in his lap, petting it and tickling its belly.

Derek gives him a look but doesn't say anything else, glancing at the puppy in his arms.

"Which one is that again?"

"Oh come on! How hard is it to remember? After all, she's the only female in the group! Kinda like Eri-" Stiles cuts himself off before he can continue that comment. Instead, he goes straight to naming off each pup.

"This one's Lily, the two black ones are Oreo and Shadow and the two brown ones are Coco and Kael. The names aren't all mine! I only named Lily. The others were thanks to Scott and Isaac."

Derek rolls his eyes with a slight chuckle, allowing Oreo to nuzzle against his leg. Stiles grinned slightly at the sight when his phone started going off. He pulled it out as a reflex and regretted it almost immediately when he hears the other person's voice.

"Hello?"

"Stiles, where the hell are you?"

If he could have a panic attack just from hearing his dad's voice, he's pretty sure he'd be on the floor by now.

"Uhh, hey dad. I…uhh…I'm at the mechanics right now. Figured I should get the dent in the jeep repaired."

"Did you forget the fact that you're basically on house arrest until further notice? Apart from going to school obviously."

"Uhh, I might've let it slip my mind."

Derek raised an eyebrow at him and Stiles scowled back in return. He hated the fact that the werewolf next to him could hear the entire convosation, not just his side.

"Of course you did. Look, we'll talk about this once you get home. And by that I mean I want you in your jeep and heading home as soon as this call finishes. You understand me?"

"Yeah dad, I got it. I'll see you at home."

Stiles hung up before his dad could bring up anything else. He silently cursed the reflex of not identifying who was the caller before standing up, placing Lily back on the ground.

"That would be my cue to get the hell out of here. Oh, can you do one favor for me Derek?"

Derek took one look at Stiles before he stood up and moved outside without a word. He ignored Stiles as he moved his hand under the dent and pushed up, easily removing it and making it look like nothing had happened.

"Thanks man. That'll help with my whole 'mechanic' story."

Derek raises an eyebrow again as Stiles gets into his car and starts the engine.

"You really think he believed that?"

"No, I don't. But hey, at least lying to him is easier than lying to you or one of the others." He shrugs with a grin, already preparing to drive away.

"Go on then, before your dad decides to search every mechanic in town for you."

Stiles nodded, giving him a grin before reversing and pulling away from the house, calling out in a normal voice as he does.

"Have fun with the pups!"

…..:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::..…

"The jeep looks better."

Stiles stared at his father for a minute, not alarmed by the comment. He knew what was coming.

"Yeah. The guys at the shop did a pretty good job on it. She looks like she did before she got hit." He grins slightly, it fading as soon as it appeared on his face.

"So, you wanna tell me why you thought it was a good idea for you to leave while on house arrest? And don't tell me you were at the mechanics the whole time. I've been told that you haven't been home all day."

Stiles grumbled softly to himself, silently cursing his neighbours.

"I got the jeep fixed then I dropped a few things off over at Scott's. I wasn't there long. I just dropped off a few things for the pups then left." He lied easily, leaning against the wall as he watched his father.

That was the one thing his dad didn't know. He knew that Stiles had been spending his time helping to care for six puppies. But Stiles had told him that it was Scott who needed the help with them, not Derek. He figured it'd make more sense if Scott was the one with puppies running around.

"Right. So you didn't just go to the mechanic. Which means you lied to me again."

Stiles sighed and glanced away from his father for a minute. He knew his dad was starting to catch on that he'd been lying a lot more, ever since the whole situation with werewolves. He couldn't help it though. He wasn't about to let his dad in on the 'secret' that is the supernatural side of Beacon Hills.

"Look, I'm sorry I lied dad. But would you have been impressed if I turned around and told you I'd left the house to see Scott after you'd grounded me?"

His dad shakes his head, his voice growing a little softer as he spoke.

"No…I wouldn't have been impressed."

Stiles nodded and started moving away from his dad. He'd given his dad the full story. Or, at least, the full story that he could give. Now he just wanted to go to his room and try and work on this pack thing for Derek.

He halted as that thought went through his head. For Derek? Since when did he properly do something for the alpha werewolf? Normally he excused it to doing it for whoever else he could. Isaac, Scott, Lydia. Hell, he'd even used Jackson as an excuse.

Stiles shook the thought away as his dad turned around, a slight hurt look in his eyes.

"Stiles, is everything alright? You've been very distant for quite a while now and you seem to be very cautious around certain subjects. Is there something you need to tell me?"

He glanced back at his dad before looking away, feeling the wave of emotion hit him again. He hated lying to his dad. He hated going behind his back and always seeming to be doing something wrong. He couldn't imagine what it must look like to him.

"Nah dad. Everything's fine. I just, I have a lot on my mind to do with school. I'm actually playing on the lacrosse team now after all."

He waits for his dad to nod before he excuses himself and goes to his room. He knows his dad watches until he gets out of sight upstairs and closes the door to his room.

Once in his room, he leans against the closed door and shuts his eyes, hitting his head against the door with a small growl. He took a few breaths to calm the raging emotions inside him before he turned and went to his desk.

He'd promised Derek he was going to figure out this thing with their pack. And he'd be damned if he didn't follow through with it to the end.

Well, I seem to be doing pretty good considering the length of the chapters so far. Normally the chapters aren't this long but hopefully I can keep it that way.

Also, a HUGE thankyou to everyone who favourited this story after the first chapter. I know the teen wolf fandom is pretty popular, but I didn't expect to get so many favourites or story alerts so early in to the story. I hope that the future chapters don't disappoint you and that you continue to like the story!

Flamealchemist103 & Tinker03: Thank you so much for your reviews and I'm glad you're enjoying the story. I hope you continue to like and enjoy it!